Nayarit gas station is community-owned

Indigenous community gets into the retail fuel market

It’s not just foreign oil companies that have jumped on the opportunity to enter Mexico’s retail fuel market.

At least 1,500 residents of an indigenous community in Nayarit pooled their resources to open Mexico’s first community-owned gas station.

The Wixáritari indigenous community of Santiago Pochotitán, Tepic, began the project in 2012 and initiated construction of the gas station in 2015. But funds ran out, delaying its opening until last Friday.

The 11-million-peso (US $590,000) investment was shared with the federal National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples, which ponied up 6 million pesos, and the community put up the rest.

Commission head Roberto Serrano said the project will benefit 15,000 people in the area, while Nayarit Governor Antonio Echevarría García forecast it would help boost the local economy.